the largest organisation for historic vans, lorries, buses, military and steam vehicles

East Anglia

Our social meetings will be held on the Second Thursday in each month atThe Royal British Legion Hall, Cordell Road, Long Melford, Suffolk7.30 for 8:00pm. Unless otherwise stated.A warm welcome awaits everyone. Visitors and guests are most welcome.For more information please contact Area Secretary, Mike Hickford. 3 Ashen Road, Clare, Suffolk. CO10 8LQ.
Phone: 01787 277963. Email sue.hickford1@gmail.com

March 8th - Quiz Evening
Sunday March 11th - Open Day at Lodge’s Coaches , High Easter. Classic Cars Welcome.
April 12th – Andy Ballisat with slides of vehicles sold at auction.
April 22nd - Road Run starting from the green at Long Melford . Details Tbc.

During the summer months we are out and about making visits. Back in the hall in September.

May 10th A visit to Webbs of Acton to view their wonderful collection of vehicles.
Using your own vehicle arrive at 7 for 7.30p.m.

June 10th Road run arranged by Pam & Brian. 11a.m. at No 2 Windmill Hill, Long Melford.
June 14th A visit to Mick Taylor’s wonderful home museum at No 6 Council Houses, Shudy Camps. Arrive by 7p.m. in your own vehicle.
Sunday
July 1st HCVS Rally on the Arts Centre Car Park in Haverhill. (Please note there is no other meeting this month)
Sunday
August 19th Vehicle Rally at Stonham Barns in Stephen’s Bedford OB. Leaving the bus yard at 8.30a.m. prompt.

September 13th A slide show by Derrick Smith of Commercial Vehicles in Service and Preservation in the 70’s and 80’s.
October 11th Talk on Dad’s Army by Dave Steward.
November 8th Tba
December 13th AGM and Christmas Party.

East Anglia Area – Haverhill Rally
Once again we ran our Historic Vehicle Rally in conjunction with Haverhill Town Council on the car park at the rear of the Arts Centre on Sunday July 1st. We were very fortunate with the weather this year. It was very hot and sunny all day and visitors were able to enjoy the coolness of the Arts Centre and watch the transport films.
Light commercial vehicle entries were slightly down this year but heavy commercials were up with car entries being about the same as last year. A special vehicle of note was a 1918 Leyland open fire engine now owned by William Englemann whose late father was a long term member of the HCVS. The vehicle even took part in the road run which was well supported on a route of 26 miles around the surrounding villages.
After lunch the free bus rides around the town kept the drivers busy all afternoon, with the open top double decker being particularly popular.
Prize giving by the Mayor of Haverhill started at 4p.m. The winners being:
Class A – Light Commercials - 1938 Morris owned by C. Tutt
Class B – Medium Commercials - 1947 Sentinel – S. Peck
Class C – Heavy Commercials - Neil Petoldi’s 1963 ERF driven by Mitch Bowen
Class D - Military Vehicles – 1945 Ford Jeep owned by Kevin Twitchett
Class E – Buses – John Day’s 1966 Routemaster
Class G – Recovery Vehicles – Robin Abbott’s 1970 Atkinson
Class H – Best Bedford – 1962 Duple Coach owned by J. Brenson
Class J – Pre war car – 1927 Humber owned by F Jones
Class K – Post war cars – P Sprot’s MG YA
The overall winner taking the George Beeston shield was Neil Pertoldi’s 1963 ERF
Runner Up to overall winner the 1966 Routemaster owned by J Day
The Richard Payne Cup for the vehicle in Everyday Use condition was awarded to M Upson for his 1952 Scammell.
Our sincere thanks must go to Haverhill Town Council and the Arts Centre for allowing us the use of the car park and their premises to run a most successful rally which was enjoyed by young and old alike. We look forward to doing it all again next year.
Mike Hickford – Area Secretary

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East Anglia Area – ‘Drive it day’ report
From our Chairman as the Secretary was absent.
We met at the Long Melford Garden Centre on a gloriously sunny morning. We weren’t the only club there and shared the car park with the Essex Austin 7 club.
At 11a.m. we set off on a 2 hour road run. The run consisted of mainly cars and as the weather was so warm nine of us had our soft tops down for the whole day.
An early casualty was John Wicks’ Alvis which would not keep running so he and Christine went home.
We stopped for a break at Dedham Vale Vineyard. The second half of the run went well ending up at Fillpots Garden Centre for Sunday roast. After an enjoyable time we made our own way home.
Many thanks to Pete & Lynn Knight for organising the day.

May meeting – A visit to Webbs of Acton
The club received a very welcome invitation to Webbs Engineering and Lorry Builders at Acton, Suffolk.
The meeting was due to start at 7p.m. but when we arrived just before we found the place already busy with people. We didn’t know but others had been invited and by the end of the evening around 60 people were on site.
The club had previously visited Webbs about 5 years ago so noticeably the site has been modernised with new offices and acres of concrete.
We were allowed to roam and take photos and then Simon Webb gave us a guides tour of the workshops and vehicles in build, including a 100 ton crane mounted on a rigid truck. There were also numerous trucks awaiting new bodies or repairs.
The evening concluded with a buffet. Many thanks to the Webb family for their hospitality.
Stephen Golynia – Chairman.

June meetings
The East Anglia Area held two events during June. The first was on Sunday June 10th when we met with our vehicles at Stephen and Jackies for coffee and biscuits before setting off on a road run of around 30 miles, travelling through some beautiful countryside on a warm sunny day. Ending up in the car park of the Congregational Chapel at East Bergholt. Inside this wonderful building we were treated to tea, coffee and lovely homemade cakes and afterwards we enjoyed our picnic lunch. We were visited in the afternoon by locals to look at our vehicles.
We would like to thank Brian Beeston and Pam for organising a most enjoyable run and for ordering a beautiful sunny day for the occasion. Thanks Brian and Pam.
We were also treated to another visit in June. On the evening of Thursday 14th we made our way to the village of Shudy Camps in Essex to visit Mick Taylor and friends and to look round his wonderful home museum in various sheds in his garden. Mick has been collecting old relics for many years now and his collection is mainly of home and garden utensils and items of interest which were in everyday use around 30 plus years ago but are now completely forgotten. This collection prompted many memories and ‘oh I had one of those’ moments.
Once again we were treated to tea, coffee and cakes which we could not resist. Very many thanks to Mick and friends for a wonderful evening. Mick makes no charge to view his exhibits but any donations made go to MacMillan Nurses, a very worthwhile charity.
Mike Hickford – Area Secretary

East Anglia Area
March meeting
Our March meeting was held on Thursday 8th at our new venue, the Royal British Legion Hall in Long Melford, were we are settling in nicely.
We had a very good turnout for the meeting which was a quiz evening arranged by Jackie, our Chairman’s wife. We had a series of quizzes which certainly made some of us scratch our heads. After a few sets of general knowledge we had a number of picture quizzes and you know how infuriating they can be when you know what, where or who it is but just can’t remember what it or they are called. Thank you Jackie for all the work you put into a very enjoyable evening.
An added attraction this evening was the opening of the licensed bar, much to many members enjoyment, although tea and coffee was also served. So everyone was happy.
On Sunday 11th some of us took the opportunity to take our vehicles out for a run and to visit Lodges Coaches at High Easter for their first Cars and coffee meeting. As well as visiting vehicles there was the chance to look at Lodges Fleet. Coffee and bacon rolls proving very popular as was the on-site café. It was well attended and the next meeting will take place on Sunday May 13th.
Mike Hickford

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February Meeting
At the February meeting which took place on Thursday February 11th we were entertained by our speaker for the evening, a great friend of the East Anglia area, Mr Harvey Wash who gave us a talk on his life after leaving school, taking an apprenticeship with a local Farm Machinery Company, including various scrapes he got into. Then on to working for a Rolls Royce dealership in London for a short time before working for the Kennings Group again with a Rolls Royce connection. Kennings then relinquished their dealership with Rolls Royce and he left and started up his own business near Kelvedon repairing Rolls Royce cars. A business he still runs today. Although he has cut down the numbers of employees they still keep very busy with the many aspects involved in repairing these cars. He also prepares older Rolls for endurance runs and has many cups given to him in appreciation of the excellent preparation of these vehicles by him and his staff.
Thanks Harvey for a very entertaining evening.
Mike Hickford

The East Anglia area held their Xmas lunch at the Royal British Legion Hall, Long Melford, the new venue for our monthly social meetings, on Sunday January 14th. Over 40 members sat down to lunch provided by caterers.

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November meeting
The AGM of the East Anglia area was held, for the last time, in Christchurch Hall in Sudbury on Thursday 14th December.
As there were no other nominations Stephen Golynia was re-elected Chairman for another year. The rest of the committee were then re-elected en bloc as follows. Chris Butcher – Vice Chair. Mike Hickford – Secretary. John Jackson – Treasurer and David Evans – Rally Secretary.
Next year’s Haverhill Rally will again be held on the car park behind the Arts Centre in Haverhill. Members were reminded that the Rally will take place a week early on July 1st to avoid a clash with another local event. Entry forms have been sent out and are available from committee members should anyone need one.
The Christmas dinner is being held at The British Legion hall in Long Melford on Sunday January 14th 2018. Menus are available from Stephen. Members were also reminded that the Legion hall will be our new venue starting in February.
After the business of the AGM had been taken care of, our lovely lady members provided a wonderful buffet which was enjoyed by all.
Thank you again girls, you did us proud.
Mike Hickford – Area Secretary

East Anglia area
October meeting.
For our October meeting our speaker was none other than our President and Treasurer John Jackson. He should have been accompanied by his partner in crime Tony Melia who was unable to attend due to illness.
John spoke about the restoration of his two Crossley double decker buses by himself and Tony. The first, an ex-Sunderland bus took then both a total of seven years to complete. John also showed slides which had been taken during the restoration and ending with a bus that looked brand new. As if they hadn’t been tormented enough by the first bus they then went on to restore a second double decker. Although this wasn’t in such bad condition as the first it took about the same amount of time to complete. They must both be congratulated on the excellent work that has been done on both buses and for the attention to detail. Both John and Tony are sticklers for originality where possible. Unfortunately there were no pictures of the second restoration in progress but as most of us have seen the finished article we all agree that it’s magnificent.
Many thanks John for a wonderful talk and best wishes to Tony.
Wheels by Lamplight
Also in October the East Anglia area made their annual trip to the Ipswich Transport Museum on Saturday October 21st for their “Wheels by Lamplight” display. 23 members travelled on Stephens Bedford OB and on arrival were shown into our reserved parking and taken into the museum.
Once again we marvelled at the massive array of mainly household oil lamps which would have been used in our parents days and indeed in our own formative years. The range was extensive, from small oil lamps that we may have used to find our way to bed up to some of the sophisticated lamps used by the gentry of the 19th century, which were operated by small clockwork pumps. These would have had to be taken to a jeweller for repair if a problem occurred. There were even a couple of oil fuelled ovens on display with a lady cooking biscuits that some of us sampled.
The display finished at 9p.m. as of course the lamps had to cool down for quite some time before they could be packed away. The small café in the museum did a roaring trade even running out of bread (to one members disgust) until someone went to the shops for more supplies.
The usual stop was made for liquid refreshment on the way home. A good night was had by all. Thank you Stephen for transporting us in your OB.
Mike Hickford

March meeting
Our March meeting on the 9th was a wonderful talk by one of our members, a sprightly 87 year old Tony Melia who related in great detail his working life at Crossley Motors. Over the years he had worked in many different departments from training apprentices to testing bus and coach chassis, mainly across the north off England and including the infamous Snake Pass.
Tony’s memory for detail is incredible as is his knowledge, in fact everyone was so wrapped up in what he was saying that no one spoke during the talk, which must be a first.
There were some very cold winters during and just after WW2, but these vehicles, which later included the Salamander Armoured car, all had to be road tested with the driver sitting in the open.
We do thank you most sincerely Tony for your wonderful enlightening and amusing talk and we hope you can give us another talk on the restoration that you and John Jackson have just completed on two Crossley double deckers.
Mike Hickford

East Anglia Area Annual Haverhill Rally
The East Anglia area once again combined with Haverhill Town Council on Sunday 9th July to hold their Annual Rally on the car park at the rear of the Arts Centre.
The weather was kind to us although cloudy at times but luckily no rain.
Entries arrived thick and fast. A few didn’t turn up but with late entries arriving our total number exceeded 150, from motorcycles, including a rare Scott water-cooled, to an amphibious DUKW.
Commercial entries were up on last year and together with various stalls selling models, tools, bric-a-brac and general useful items, helped this to be one of our most successful shows yet with confirmation from the Haverhill Town Mayor that the show will go on again next year.
We are very appreciative of the Town Council letting us have the use of the car park and the Arts Centre and we thank them most sincerely.
At 11.30 around 30 vehicles left on a 25 mile road run round the local villages, returning about an hour later.
From 1.30p.m. various buses and coaches took rally goers on trips around the town. They were kept busy all afternoon with extra buses added as the queue lengthened.
Inside the Arts Centre a brisk trade was done in the bar and the Bistro. In the theatre bygone transport films were being shown all day for those wishing to rest their feet.
Judging took place during the afternoon and at 4p.m. the Mayor kindly presented the prizes.
Class A for Light Commercials was won by Laurie Cook with his 1941 Morris Z
Class B for Medium Commercials – Stephen Peck’s 1947 Sentinel
Robert Wells to the prize for Class C – Heavy Commercials with his 1972 ERF after travelling all the way from Amersham in Buckinghamshire.
A 1959 Daimler Ferret owned by Tony Brown won the shield for Class D - Military vehicles.
Class E – Buses was won by a 1946 Crossley double decker brought along by Tony Melia and Garry Sharpe.
There were no entries for Class F this year.
John McGlade and his 1956 Thornycroft took the prize for Class G – Recovery vehicles.
Class H - Stephen Golynia won the Phyllis Beeston Shield for Best Bedford vehicle with his 1947 Bedford OB .
Oliver Wilson took the Pre War Car Shield – Class J for his 1932 Sunbeam.
Class K for Post War cars was won by Mike Dawes with his 1970 MG Midget.
The overall winner of the show was Stephen Peck with his 1947 Sentinel and the Runner up was Robert Wells for his 1972 ERF.
The Richard Payne cup for the Vehicle in Everyday Use Condition was won by Chris Sampson with his 1968 Bristol Rell.
Once again another highly successful day and we look forward to doing it all again next year.
Mike Hickford

Historic Commercial Vehicle Society

We are the Original Enthusiasts club for historic commercial vehicles. Our member’s vehicles portray a living history of Commercial Transport and show the developments which have taken place during more than a century.